Chinese internet giant Baidu forms partnership with Geely creating an EV business
By Ramla Soni
13:00, 11 January 2021
Chinese AI and internet company Baidu has formed a strategic partnership with carmaker Geely to create an electric vehicle business.
The new unit will be an independent subsidiary of Baidu, the company stated, with the Beijing-headquartered company being the main shareholder and Chinese automaker Geely taking a minority stake.
Geely will manufacture the vehicles, while Baidu will be in charge of the software and technology in the cars.
Baidu has already been testing its driverless-car software, named Apollo, in public robotaxi trials in Beijing.
The company also has its own map app and voice assistant technology called DuerOS which can equip vehicles.
China’s electric-vehicle market continues to grow and is becoming more competitive.
Domestic electric-automaker Nio, Li Auto and Xpeng Motors, all reported a surge in deliveries for December.
Nio most recently released its first sedan called the et7, while Apple iPhone-maker Foxconn signed a deal with Chinese electric-carmaker Byton to help manufacture its first vehicle.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Geely were up slightly by 0.45 per cent, after rising nearly 20 per cent on Friday. Baidu’s US-listed shares were up more than 15 per cent at the close of trade on Friday.
()
Comments
Please note before commenting
There are currently no responses for this story.
Be the first to respond.